Miner KAZ leads FTSE 100 to 4.5 percent decline

European equities markets saw significant losses Wednesday as recession worries were exacerbated by comments from Bank of England governor Mervyn King, who said that the UK is likely already entering a recession.

The FTSE 100 was 4.46 percent lower to 4,040.89 and the FTSE 250 dropped 3.27 percent to 6,232.62 in London.

Miners were among the worst performers on the session, led by Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) with a decline of 15.49 percent on the 100 and by Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP), which dropped 21.18 percent on the 250.

There was better news in the pharmaceuticals sector, where GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK; NYSE: GSK) was up 1.33 percent and AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN; NYSE: AZN) added 1.53 percent, and from the airlines sector, with British Airways (LSE: BAY; NYSE: BAB) leading the 100 with a gain of 4.3 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 5.41 percent to 873.9 as the Dax fell 4.46 percent to 4,571.07, the CAC-40 was 5.1 percent lower to 3,298.18 and the IBEX dropped 8.16 percent to 8,995.3.

The oil sector was lower as oil prices declined again, with BP (LSE: BP; NYSE: BP; TYO: 5051) down 5.5 percent as Repsol (IBEX-35: REP; NYSE: REP) dropped 16 percent.

There were only two winners on the Dax as Volkswagen (FWB: VOW) added 0.1 percent and chipmaker Infineon (FWB: IFX; NYSE: IFX) was up 3.06 percent, while only aerospace group EADS (Euronext: EAD; FWB: EAD) saw gains on the CAC-40 as it added 1.02 percent.

Asia-Pacific region equities markets were also lower on fears that the economic slowdown will hurt profits for the region’s corporations after disappointing quarterly reports and on anticipation of more of the same.

In Tokyo the Nikkei 225 was down 6.79 percent to 8,674.69 while the Topix index fell 7.05 percent to 889.23 and the Mothers market of small and mid-caps dropped 2.56 percent to 323.24.

Traders were down on lower oil prices while banks, the real estate sector and exporters all saw declines.

Banks were hurt by a report that profits for Mitsubishi UFJ (TYO: 8306; NYSE: MTU) will likely be down by up to 50 percent in the first half on write downs and costs related to bad loans.

Mitsubishi UFJ was down 8.83 percent on the session while Mizuho Financial (TYO: 8411; NYSE: MFG) fell 8.49 percent and Sumitomo Mitusi (TYO: 8316) also lost around 8 percent.

Exporters fell on a strengthening of the yen versus the euro, with Sony (TYO: 6758; NYSE: SNE) down 9.26 percent as camera-maker Olympus was 11.41 percent lower and Konica Minolta (TYO: 4902) fell 11.64 percent after brokers cut its target share price.

Elsewhere in the region, the Taiex was down 1.62 percent to 4,862.59 while in Austrlaia the Sydney Ordinaries fell 3.09 percent to 4,120.1 and the S&P/ASX200 was 3.4 percent lower to 4,156.1 and in China the Shanghai Composite dropped 3.2 percent to 1,895.82.

India’s Sensex fell 4.81 percent to 10,169.9 while the Hang Seng dropped 5.15 percent to 14,266.6 for its lowest close in three years.

There was only one gainer on the Hang Seng out of 42 components as subway operator MTR Corp (SEHK: 0066) added 0.8 percent on the session.

South Korea’s Kospi was down 5.14 percent to 1,134.59 while the Straits Times Index fell 5.19 percent to 1,821.13.

In afternoon trade in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.61 percent to 8,707.58 while the Nasdaq Composite was 2.99 percent lower to 1,645.88 and the S&P 500 had dropped 4.16 percent to 915.28.

Losses came in sectors as diverse as teen clothing retailers and the mining sector.

Among retailers specializing in clothing for teens, Pacific Sunwear of California (NSYE: PSUN) was down 6.81 percent while Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) was 8.47 percent lower and Aeropostale had dropped 9.9 percent even though UBS (NYSE: UBS; SWX: UBSN; TYO: 8657) initiated coverage on several of the retailers with a “buy” recommendation assigned only to Aeropostale.

Miners, meanwhile, saw declines as equities markets declined globally and oil prices fell again.

Gold miner Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) was down 8.3 percent while copper and gold miner Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) dropped 17.62 percent while among coal miners Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) was 13.08 percent lower and Massey Energy (NYSE: MEE) fell 19.52 percent.

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